In keeping with my volunteer role as keeper of the dim flame that is but a fool’s hope, I’m posting the transcript of this conversation with JJ Abrams, and reminding people that JJ Abrams is a very cautious and careful political animal when on the PR circuit, and chooses his words very carefully, ESPECIALLY after he burnt himself on the press tour for Star Trek Into Darkness.
Interviewer: Would you as a fan like to see the theatrical versions made available commercially?
Abrams: Yes, and I have asked about this-
Interviewer: -really?
Abrams: Well, 'cause who wouldn’t wanna see that? But I’ve been told that, for reasons that I don’t quite understand, that that’s not necessarily possible.
And then the interviewer goes on to misrepresent the whole Library of Congress anecdote and Abrams pokes fun at him for it, so on and so forth, but that’s the relevant bit.
Here’s the cracks of daylight that might be poking through the maybe not all the way closed door:
Abrams might have asked awhile ago (like, circa 2013/14) and… just never asked again, and so he doesn’t know what the current plans are, since he’s been very busy making a movie and all.
The words “not necessarily” carry a lot of weight, as does his “reasons I don’t quite understand.” It says he’s at a remove, and he’s not clear on what it is that’s actually happening with it, and more importantly, that he never really followed up.
The most simple explanation is that someone (Kennedy? Iger?) told him the same thing we’ve all come to understand over the same 5-6 year period: They don’t come out because Lucasfilm doesn’t want to piss off George Lucas if they don’t have to, and they know this isn’t a thing he really wants, so out of courtesy, they’re not doing it.
That’s confusing and weird to a lot of fans (to the point we’ve created out of whole cloth and perpetuated for the last 5-6 years a crackpot theory about contractual clauses) so I don’t know why it wouldn’t be confusing to Abrams in a quick conversation with Kathy Kennedy or Bob Iger four years ago, either. Especially if he’s coming at it from the standpoint of “but you guys own it. And you have access to better equipment than literally anyone else trying to do this work.”
But he’s still being careful. He asked once, was told a thing, and is still hedging bets on its possibility. Just because he directed the newest Star Wars movie doesn’t necessarily (hey, there’s that word) mean he knows what the rest of Disney/Lucasfilm is planning on doing with the other films, any more than John Landis (who doesn’t even work there) knew what they were doing a few years ago when he told everyone the originals were coming because he was talking to George one day.